Its The Thought That Counts
by Prime Revolver
Summary: [G1] After some begging Optimus gets talked into helping out with a gift for Father's Day but he isn't all to thrilled about it. Its for a good cause though. Not all funny but still chuckle worthy I suppose.


It's The Thought That Counts

---

It was just after noon on this hot June day. Being around the eighties now even some of the Autobot's found that they preferred the bowls of the _Ark_ more comforting. Jazz yawned loudly even though he was trying to suppress it. It was just a natural thing for heat to do it seamed. He ignored the looks he got from one or two of his comrades that were also present in the control room.

Slouching back in the chair he usually didn't take much attention when someone walked into the control room since he knew the rhythms of most of their footsteps. But these sounded different. To his surprise it was Optimus who had a defeated look on his face. Well what he could see that is.

"Somethin' wrong boss man?" asked Jazz as his leader took a seat at his post

Prime sighed and rubbed the brim of his olfactory. It wasn't a common thing for Prime to do particularly in front on one of his men so yeah it got his attention.

"Two words. Blair and Rachel" flexing his digits one or two popping as if in either miss use or hadn't been used in a while

"'At's three sir," an unsuppressed grin on his face

The Autobot commander looked up then turned his gaze over at the saboteur fixing him with one of his worst glares he could conjure up at the moment but it only succeeded making Jazz laugh.

"Sorry sir couldn't' resist," getting up and turning his chair around then reseating in it backwards his arms crossed over the back rest. Still with the same smile large as life on his faceplate. "What they buggin' ya about now sir?" pausing and looking up at ceiling; something didn't make since "I can see Rachel but _Blair_?"

"Yes . . . both of them," sighing again "Do you perhaps know what Earth holiday it is tomorrow?" gaze back on the Porsche

Jazz knew it wasn't a real question "No. Hasn't crossed m' mind."

"Fathers Day, Jazz" the Autobot commander pointed out simply

Prime for some reason could see the light bulb come on over Jazz's black horned helmet "Hey yeah! . . . Why?"

Prime suppressed the urge to shake is head "Let me start from the beginning then . . ."

---

The _Ark _being 'quiet' was a rare thing indeed and when it was it kept the Autobot commander on his toes. Figuratively speaking of course. But it was just a hour or so from noon so most of the Autobot's were either on shift unless they had had a night shift so it was likely those said 'bots where fast into recharge with the Cybertronian equivalent to a 'Do Not Disturb' signs on their doors. Even though in the past Optimus Prime had learned not to trust it being quiet. It was a lesson quickly learned in war.

"Optimus!"

He nearly swallowed his spark from the sudden outburst in the deathly quiet hall. He had to scramble quickly to keep from dropping the digi-pads he was holding. If you had witnessed it in person you would have thought it would make for an amusing scene.

Sighing and letting his spark settle back into his chest he turned around but no one was there so he looked down. There coming up toward him was the latest addition to his team. Two human females that he admired greatly even if they were some times _troublesome _but that was a common thing around the _Ark._

"May I help you two?" continuing down the hall with Blair and Rachel at his sides

"Yeah we were wondering if you could do us a favor?" started Rachel that gangster scheming tone in her voice

He wouldn't fall for it "Depends on the favor, Rachel" he replied back smoothly

Rachel looked over at her older sister for support and gave a few quick nods for her to help "Have you ever heard of Fathers day?" Blair finally asked

Optimus looked down at the top data-pad in his grasp but was thinking back to what he had read about the said holiday. It was something he had been meaning to look up on but with the resent hectic schedule he had it never happened. He got the unique suspicion he would find out soon enough. "I have heard but that's it, yes"

"So you don't know what Fathers day _is_?" making it sound more of a statement than a question

Prime put some future still thought to what the two sister where getting at. Why didn't he like were this was going?

"Correct but . . .what does this have to do with _me_?" turning a corner

"See our dad has three days off from work. He had to do something for an Aunt of ours yesterday so he spent the day working anyway." began Rachel shrugging "And we want to do something for him but we have no idea what," finished Blair

"Your point?"

Blair and Rachel shared looks with smug smiles on their faces "We need your body." The chorused

If he had been drinking some energon he would have chocked on it. Instead he came to a dead stop in the middle of the hallway, turned, and looked down at the two young women. "Run that by me again, please." There he went being all gentlemen-mech

"Our dad had been wanting to do some designs on some trucks and hasn't been able to find any or time so . . . " Blair trailed off

"Why not do it on your tow truck?" asked Prime cocking his head to one side

Waving a hand "Sentimental value, old memories." stated Rachel "No can do," finished Blair

"So can you do this one little favor for us?" the two begged

Prime looked down at the two girls his optics narrowed. He considered his options. He was backed up on work he needed to get completed. He had to run down to the local police station to clear out some incidents with them about certain _unnamed_ Autobot speed demons who needed to learn to read traffic signs and that they weren't objects on a obstacle course that needed to be terminated. He also needed to be in the control room five minutes ago. Then there was the rumor tree. The _Ark _had eyes and ears every were both literal and figuratively speaking.

"Sorry but I can't."

"Ah come one Optimus please! Are dad is awesome at auto body art!" whined Rachel taking off after the Autobot "Who do you think we learned it from?"

"No," it didn't sound like a harsh flat 'no' but that was her only answer

_'What's gotten up his tailpipe?'_ "Pwezy Optimus!" cried Rachel

Blair ran beside her sister and rolled her eyes at her sister _'Great this routine again.'_

---

Optimus watched slowly as the largest grin he had ever seem crossed Jazz's face. "Don' leave me 'n suspense! What did ya say to 'em?"

"I said I'd think about it," leaning back in his chair pretending to be busy

Giving his leader a cheeky cat grin "Come on Optimus ya never know ya might like it!"

"Unlike some of us around here some 'bots look up to me. I don't want others thinking something they don't need to about me Jazz." going into lecture mode but it didn't really effect the Porsche

"Come on Optimus ya owe them a lot besides ya can always get Blair to get the paint off." Mater-factly

Optimus thought about it for a moment. Jazz had a point there and he knew he had said Blair for a reason. If he did go threw this and went to Rachel to get the paint off she'd ignore him by saying 'no' a not the simply either, Rachel did nothing simple if she could help. There was always the option of going to Ratchet but the CMO had been more cranky than usual lately. Blair was just that way when it came to asking for help.

"But what I wont to know is; why me?" stated Prime looking back up at the saboteur

Shrugging "The age ol' questi'n. So what's your answer?" his trademark grin on his face

Prime rubbed his helmet and sighed once again. It was a rare thing to see his leader like this and Jazz enjoyed every moment of it. Priceless.

Taking in a breath of oxygen then letting it out "Fine."

---

How he had pulled it off would take to long to explain. Prime wasn't even sure if he could explain how he had done it himself. But here he was in vehicle mode getting a new paint job. What he didn't like about the whole thing was that Blair and Rachel's dad wanted to start early. It wasn't all to bad of an request it gave him time to sneak out of the _Ark _without being seen by one of Autobot's. For some reason he felt bad. There was no harm done in it all. It was for a good cause after all even it short lived. But Prime knew that the Autobot's would be talking about it for some time.

"Well good news is Optimus that Dad decided to keep your original red coat. Just going to add a new layer, add some more blue, and then polish ya up all nice and shinny," stated Rachel looking up at Optimus gleefully

"Alright." He stated flatly

Despite trusting Blair and Rachel, Prime felt uncomfortable. He felt like one of those innocent humans that had been abducted by the small green men from space and was being examined. The room he had backup in was a plain white room with some a few tall toolboxes with equipment on top of them, some attached some not. No only that he had paper tapped all over him with wavy designs cut out on the paper, along with tap lot of it.

The room looked like the vehicle version of solitary, e felt like he was in solitary.

_"Rachel may I ask what kind of design did your father come up with?"_

Rachel smiled as her father came up beside her. He was a tall man possibly in his early forties. Even so he was still a handsome looking man with slightly graying hair near the sides. Prime knew were the two girls got their height from now. Along with his mask that he wore around his neck he had a suit on that looked like it had seen better days.

"I have to say that it's an honor for you to allow me to do this Optimus Prime, sir," stated Mr. Livington politely

_"The honor is all mine, Mr. Livington,"_ he replied back

"Please call me Robert. As for your design well, unfortunately Blair and Rachel told me not to tell and I'm a man of my word after all." walking over toward one of the tool boxes

_"That's understandable."_ At least he could trust the two young women that he wouldn't paint anything to humiliating to him. He had to say this was something new to him. Optimus Prime had been a around a while but still it wasn't every day he submitted himself to this kind of thing

"Don't worry Prime sir, its nothing embarrassing." That helped a little

"_I will take your word on that."_ Mr. Livington chuckled

---

Blair stretched as she sat on the back porch dinking some grape juice. It was a quiet hot day and she had been cleaning up the front section of the garage for the past hour while her father and sister worked on the Autobot commander. She was amazed as to how easily they had convinced him into this all. She felt kind of bad about it all really. Even if he would never admit it Prime did have a bit of an ego just not the same as some of the Autobot's she knew vain to almost a fault. She'd decided to go ahead and get the work done today so she'd have time tomorrow to get the paint off of Prime.

Putting the bottle down she looked at her watch and noticed it was around eleven-forty now and they should be about done. As on cue the large titanium garage doors started opened.

"All done!" called Rachel walking up beside Prime as he rolled out of the garage

Blair smiled seeing the new look of the Autobot leader. As just what their dad had planed Prime was still his brilliant red color scheme but now he held a brilliant blue and red flame job. The red flames went down his sides near the back and around his Autobot logo. It was a glossy metallic looking blue and as she could tell her father did a superb job on polishing the red now decaled with blue flames. It wasn't all bad really it would defiantly turn heads while the Kenworth drove down the road.

Walking up to her dad and watching Optimus Prime transform with grace as always "I kind of like it." a smile on her face

Prime looked down at himself examining the new fashion then over his arms. They couldn't tell what he was really thinking because of the mask. "Well I'm not really sure." His voice a little . . . distracted

"It blends," stated Rachel a triumphant satisfied grin on her face and a shrug

"Well Optimus Prime sir" began Mr. Livington "I have to say thank you for doing this. It's been a memorable Father's day for me that and the conversation with you was great. It's been a pleasure." Smiling

Nodding his head Prime knelled down extended his hand, and now dark blue flamed arm. Even though he could see it he knew Prime was smiling behind his mask "No thank your daughters their the ones who convinced me to do this all and I'm glad I said yes." shaking the mans hand gently

To their surprise Primes com-link beeped. Standing up Prime answered the message opening the line up to private. After a moment or two they heard him let out a sigh. Blair and Rachel knew what was going on and didn't know if the sigh was for whether he had to go into battle with his knew look or face his men. The two girls grinned, even Blair.

"Well I have to be going." He finally stated a few second later "Duty calls." taking off toward the dirt road that lead to the highway

"Hey Optimus!"

Stopping and looking back around to Rachel "Yes?"

"Ya look hot!" she called a big smile on her face

Even though they couldn't see it from where they were standing, Prime blushed. "Urm thanks Rachel," he called back not really sure what to say

The three humans watched Prime take off again in a run transform mid-air then land on the highway. Screeching his tires the Autobot leader tore off down the highway. Mr. Livington smiled despite it all "Well looks like that paint job won't last long anyway."

----

It's a day late (my time anyway) but it didn't pop into my head till last night. I find this story different from what I usually do but hope you enjoyed it all the same. Hope it isn't all to bad.

Please review, thanks!

Transformers and all related char(s) belong to HasTak and associated co.

Except Blair, Rachel, Robert Livington, and the plot which is mine.


End file.
